ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Ascorbic acid (vitamin C), administered orally in high doses has been observed to relieve pain and reduce opioid use in cancer patients. In vitro studies have also shown that antioxidants, such as vitamin C, may, at high concentrations, inhibit the endogenous opioid degrading metalloenzyme and increase endorphin levels. In the present study the effects of oral administration of high doses of vitamin C on withdrawal syndrome of heroin abusers were investigated. MATERIALS AND PATIENTS: Ascorbic acid at doses of 300 mg/kg b.w/day, supplemented with vitamin E (5 mg/kg b.w/day), was orally administered in two groups of heroin addict subjects consisting of in-patients (Group A, 30 males) and one of out-patients(Group B, 10 males), for a minimum of 4 weeks. The group A in-patients were also administered the conventional (diazepam + analgesic) medication. The results on the intensity of withdrawal syndrome (WS), estimated according to DMS-III criteria, were compared to a third group of heroin addict in-patients (group C, 30 males-control group), treated only by conventional medication. RESULTS: The patients of the vitamin C-treated groups (in-patients and out-patients) experienced mild WS (in 46.6% to 50% of the subjects) in contrast to the control group patients, who experienced mild WS in 6.6% of the cases. The vitamin C-treated subjects expressed major WS ranging from 10% to 16.6%, in contrast to the untreated subjects (control group), who expressed a major WS in 56.6% of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that high doses of ascorbic acid administered orally, may ameliorate the withdrawal syndrome of heroin addicts. Further studies are needed in order to estimate the dose- and time-dependent effects of ascorbic acid treatment, and to clarify its mechanisms of action in the withdrawal syndrome.

Needle exchangers look to vitamin C to deal with new drug habit

For years, Dan Bigg and his fellow needle exchangers have been driving out to the western suburbs of Chicago several nights a week to distribute syringes to the area’s heroin addicts. Recently, however, they’ve begun doling out a new product that has become equally vital in protecting the health of intravenous drug users: packets of liquid vitamin C.

The purpose of vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is to counter a new drug threat: In addition to taking in heroin intravenously, a significant number of drug users have also begun shooting up with crack cocaine.

To convert it to a serum form, they break down the crack rocks with vinegar and lemon juice, which in themselves create “all kinds of dangers,” said Bigg, the executive director of Chicago Recovery Alliance, an organization that provides treatment to drug users.

Not only does injecting organic products like lemon juice and vinegar carry with it the potential for developing terrible abscesses, but the two liquids also have the potential to do permanent vein damage.

“The problem with these two products is they’re full of bacteria,” said Mark Kinzly, a researcher at the Yale University School of Medicine. “And all an abscess is is bacteria, so users develop them very rapidly. The other thing is, vinegar can eat away the vein walls, which eventually will cause your veins to collapse.”

Liquidizing their crack with straight vitamin C, on the other hand, leaves the drug free of bacteria, which is why Bigg and his needle exchangers are now handing out bags of ascorbic acid around Chicago.

Although nowhere near as widespread as the crack smoking epidemic of the mid-1980s, this new manner of consumption has alarmed federal and local officials. A recent study by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that a substantial number of U.S. drug users are injecting crack cocaine, and as a result are at a greater risk for transmitting blood-borne infections like HIV and hepatitis.

And though abscesses are not life threatening, public health experts warn that they still have significant consequences in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco where crack injection is on the increase.

“In San Francisco, for example, the single biggest ticket item at emergency rooms citywide was handling soft tissue infections,” said Robert Heimer, an associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health.

“It sounds like a trivial problem, but it’s not,” he said. “It’s an extensive medical problem, and one where people don’t generally have money so the burden falls entirely on taxpayers to pick up the cost.”

Heavy crack use in the United States began in the early 1980s. The practice involved cooking powdered cocaine with baking soda in order to create crystal rocks that could be smoked. Far less expensive then cocaine, crack, a highly addictive version of the drug, ravaged inner cities by causing crime waves and overburdening emergency wards.

Throughout this time, intravenous drug users had also been mixing cocaine and heroin into an injectable super narcotic, known as a speedball. Highly dangerous, a speedball gives its user the wired feeling of cocaine followed by the depressant sensation of heroin. But during the mid-1990s, the availability of powder cocaine began to decrease in many cities, leaving speedball users without one of their crucial ingredients.

“These people still wanted to do speedballs but they couldn’t get their powder, so they figured out how to break down crack cocaine,” said Brian Lopez, an outreach worker for a syringe exchange organization in Los Angeles.

Indeed, it was during this time, drug experts believe, that users discovered that by mixing crack with an acidic substance the rocks could be suitably broken down into an injectable form of the drug that could be combined with heroin. Their speedball fixes were satisfied, and a new drug habit was born.

According to drug outreach workers in Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, crack injection has become more common primarily because of two factors: availability and price.

“The bottom line is that there’s an increased availability of crack that I think is exceptional at this time,” said Jon Paul, a former crack addict who injected cocaine who is now a public health worker in Philadelphia. “And because of the availability of it and the lack of availability of powdered cocaine, people are feeling compelled to shoot crack cocaine because that’s what they can get.”

Not only can they get it, they can get it for much less at a time than powdered cocaine. In Los Angeles, for instance, a small “rock” of crack sells for $5””-enough for a few hits of the drug.

While groups in many cities are responding to the phenomenon, there are still several places across the United States where crack injection has been reported and very little is being done about it. In New York, for instance, not one of the more than half dozen syringe exchange organizations also hands out liquid vitamin C packets.

Some experts argue that it is unnecessary in a place where cocaine is still so readily available.

But for Justin, a 29-year-old part-time outreach worker in Manhattan‘s Lower East Side, some ascorbic acid could make a big difference. He began injecting crack two years ago and almost immediately developed a large abscess on his right arm. It has since healed, but he is still using vinegar to acidify the rocks.

“That first time I was just hoping I’d get a good hit from it,” Justin said. “Once you shoot, it’s pretty hard to do anything else.”

Kinzly, the Yale researcher and the former coordinator of the syringe exchange program in Bridgeport, Conn., has been advocating for the distribution of ascorbic acid for nearly a decade.

Once it became widely available in Bridgeport, he noticed the amount of abscesses developed by drug users began to decrease almost immediately. But he warns that there is still very little hope that crack injection will simply go away.

“There are three things in a community that will make drugs successful: price, availability and effect,” said Kinzly. “And as a result, I don’t see crack injection disappearing anytime soon.”

E-mail: rss2112@columbia.edu

The stage of recovery immediately after stopping the use of heroin is often known as detox. Detox is necessary because the effects of heroin are strong in the body and results in stress in the person who has just stopped heroin use. The detox period is used to decrease stress in the heroin addict. Actual recovery is usually 3-6 months or longer, but detox is usually the 3-4 week period of time right after stopping heroin, when it is the most stressful.

Buprenex can make the detox period less stressful because it has the ability to stop withdrawal symptoms of opiate addiction. Buprenex is an analgesic and has low level abuse potential. Buprenex is still not FDA approved but the company that makes it, Reckitt and Coleman, says FDA approval may be soon. Buprenex has several trade names. In the United States it is called Buprenorphine and has been used for decades as a painkiller. The trade name Buprenex will be for the use to stop opiate withdrawal symptoms.

Buprenex can make detox a lot less stressful by stopping withdrawal symptoms. The stress of withdrawal, aside from being painful, creates many negative effects in the body. When repeated heroin use is stopped, without using Buprenex, various systems in the body become over-stimulated, no longer inhibited by heroin. This creates many reactions in the body that continue until the body is exhausted and the withdrawal pain subsides. Heroin addicts are already handicapped by many problems of addiction and severe withdrawal pain is an additional load of stress to the body.

Dr. Bob is mentioned many times on this web site. He was a MD of internal medicine, orthomolecular doctor, MD psychiatrist, chiropractor, and healer for 65 years. He was also a diabetic who lived to 108 years with only 1 side effect 2 years before he passed away. He began treating addicts in the 1930’s and continued to treat them into the 1990’s. The system of medicine he practiced is called orthomolecular medicine, the use of natural substances that are non-toxic and safe in a wide range of dose. Dr. Bob said Buprenorphine, although not completely an orthomolecular substance, was as close as you can get to orthomolecular and its benefits far outweigh its low toxic level. After 65 years of treating addicts during the detox stage, Dr. Bob said the best way he found to decrease stress in a heroin addict was large doses of buffered vitamin C powder. The doses are 30 grams or more spread out over 12 or more hours each day. Vitamin C powder comes in different forms such as calcium ascorbate, magnesium ascorbate, and other ascorbates. Dr. Bob liked to mix up the different minerals to balance the vitamin C effect in the body. Also, he preferred calcium because it has a calming effect, and magnesium has a stimulating effect.

Vitamin C has many uses in the body, such as it is a major component of collagen, it is the main vitamin that runs the immune system, it is an important part of the detox system, and many other vital attributes. In relation to detoxing the body, it is an electron donor. The body repairs and detoxes itself mainly by the use of antioxidants. Antioxidants work by giving away or losing electrons. Vitamin C is involved in many detox aspects by supplying extra electrons so the detox can continue longer. In other words vitamin C refuels the detox system. If a car runs out of gas, it can be in perfectly fine condition, but it can no longer run and this is the same idea of how vitamin C works to aid detox. Vitamin C refuels the detox system when it becomes depleted of electrons and this allows the detox system to work harder and longer.

The dose of vitamin C Dr. Bob used is called 80 per cent bowel tolerance, a concept in orthomolecular medicine. The body works by pathways. As long as the body needs extra electrons for detox, more vitamin C is needed. When the detox system has enough electrons and it no longer needs vitamin C as an electron donor, it sends vitamin C into metabolic pathways, not detox pathways, and only small amounts of vitamin C are needed in the metabolic pathways. When too much vitamin C is in the metabolic pathways, the body gets rid of it in the form of watery stools or diarrhea. Therefore you can find your vitamin C dose by taking constant amounts of vitamin C every couple of hours until you get watery stools. As long as you do not get watery stools the body is most likely using vitamin C in the detox pathways. When you get watery stools this probably means the detox pathways have enough vitamin C and now the excess vitamin C is being moved to the metabolic pathways. When you get watery stools this is called bowel tolerance. For more information on 80 per cent bowel tolerance, the entire method is explained in the article on this web site, “Overlooked Cure for Terminal Illness.” Usually a person only needs small amounts of vitamin C for usual functions, however vitamin C is important in detox in the body and due to great stress from heroin use large amounts of vitamin C can be used to donate electrons to the body. Healthy people can usually only take small amounts of vitamin C until they experience watery stools. Dr. Bob had some heroin addicts, who are usually very sick, using 50 grams of buffered vitamin C powder or more a day. When I had a kidney infection, I used over 50 grams of vitamin C powder for many days. I felt almost no pain and I was able to go to work and I felt this was due to the high dose of vitamin C.

Furthermore, a great deal of detox in the body is accomplished by antioxidants, the substances the body uses to repair and heal. The main ones Dr Bob recommended during the detox period for heroin addicts, are 600 grams a day of alpha lipoic acid a day in divided doses, 800-1600 I.U. of dry vitamin E a day in divided doses, 150 mcg of selenium a day, preferably selenomethionine, and 30 grams or more a day of vitamin C, spread out over a 24-hour period. Dr. Bob felt this was the optimal method to use to detox from the great stress of heroin addiction. Dr. Bob also advised 60 mg of CoQ10 a day for women and 100 mg for men. Although CoQ10 can work as an antioxidant in the body, the main reason Dr. Bob included it as part of detox, is it boosts energy at the cell level and to resist stress the body needs as much energy as it can get.

In conclusion, detox is necessary to relieve stress from heroin addiction. After 65 years of experience, Dr. Bob felt that the fastest method to reduce stress from repeated heroin use was to use Buprenorphine, use 30 grams or more a day of buffered vitamin C powder using different mineral forms such as calcium ascorbate, use antioxidants, and use CoQ10. The faster you eliminate stress from the body the faster is your recovery. The better your recovery the greater are the chances you can resist relapse. Therefore treat the detox period wisely as an opportunity not just to stop heroin addiction, but also as a time to repair and heal the body. Dr. Bob often said, “good luck and may heaven’s blessings be yours.”

WARNING: DO NOT STOP ANY TREATMENT OR MEDICATION YOU CURRENTLY USE. CONSULT WITH YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE STARTING THE USE OF SUPPLEMENTS.

The Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated any of the statements contained on this web site. The information contained in this article is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Remember each person’s body is different and will react differently to various herbal, vitamin and mineral supplements. Therefore, any supplementation must be administered on an individual basis. Use the information found on this web site as precisely that: Information. You and your doctor must make any final decisions. This information is not meant to replace any doctor and patient consultation. This information should in no way replace your personal physician’s advice.

D,L-PHENYLALANINE AND VITAMIN C:

TWO DRUG-FREE APPROACHES TO CHRONIC PAIN

There are an almost uncountable number of brands of pain relievers on the medical market. Were pain due to a drug deficiency, they might have more to offer.

I am not in favor of pain except as a warning. Pain is often our wake-up call to action, when our bodies need to get a message to and an effective response from our busy brain. As protests on the Capitol Mall get the attention of lawmakers in Washington (sometimes, anyway), so does pain act as the squeaky wheel demanding grease.

Putting in earplugs does not fix a squeaky wheel. The best pain relief will help cure the cause of pain. At the very least, we want the hurt to go away temporarily without harmful side effects. So we have therapeutic value and safety as benchmarks for pain relief.

Here are two alternatives to pharmaceutical products:

D- or DL-PHENYLALANINE
Unlike left-handed, essential L-Phenylalanine, the D- or “right-handed” form of this common amino acid is not actually a nutrient but an amino acid analgesic. It is non-prescription but is rather costly for an effective dose. Practitioners using DLPA (Dextro-Levro-Phenyl-Alanine) normally employ it for chronic pain that is unresponsive to other measures. Arthritis or lower back pain would be examples. While no substitute for medical or chiropractic care, DLPA may well be a most suitable companion.

The dose of DLPA needed may vary from person to person, and is generally determined by starting with perhaps 1,000 mg daily for two weeks and then gradually increasing to a level that provides relief. If 3,000 mg per day doesn’t work after a month’s time, it probably will not work at all. About two-thirds of those using it will report real improvement in this time. If they don’t, then stop. There is no point in wasting money.

For this stuff is not cheap. Tablet potency is commonly around 300 to 500 mg, so a person might well need to take quite a few each day. I used to think that DLPA was way too pricey until I saw a few prescriptions where the pills cost several dollars apiece (and this was over a decade ago, long before the even more expensive “Viagara”).

The good news is that persons reporting pain relief will generally be able to LOWER their dose gradually and will often be able to maintain pain-free status with less DLPA than before. It is a bit unusual for an analgesic substance to work BETTER over time and require LESS; the opposite is the rule. (Consider morphine, for instance.) DLPA has a long duration of action yet the body does not seem to build up a tolerance to it.

You will probably not find just “D-phenylalanine” for sale, hence the focus here on DLPA. It is the D-form that is active; you CANNOT therefore substitute the levro- (“L”) form that is so widely found, at far lower cost, in foods and stores. The “L” form will not work. If the bottle does not specifically state its contents as “DL,” you can be certain they are just trying to sell you the useless “L” form.

Our earlier criteria for natural pain relievers included safety and healing value. The safety of DLPA is very good indeed. It is non-addictive and virtually non-toxic. Some estimates place its safety on a par with vitamin C or fructose. Still, it is not to be used during pregnancy. Persons with phenylketonuria (PKU) obviously should not take any extra phenylalanine. Persons with high blood pressure should take DLPA after meals. Outside of these, there are virtually no adverse effects.

Added value may come from the fact that phenylalanine is converted by the body into phenylethylamine. Low levels of phenylethylamine are correlated with clinical depression; if DLPA raises these levels there is a real biochemical benefit. As a pain-killer, it seems to act by keeping enzymes called enkephalinase and carboxypeptidase A from breaking down the body’s own morphine-like natural painkillers, the enkephalins and the endorphins. This makes a lot of sense: if the body relieves its own pain, a safe mechanism is probably at work. DLPA appears to assist that mechanism.

Research has indicated that migraine, joint pains, neuralgia and even postoperative pain respond to DLPA, and it has been reported to reduce inflammation. DLPA does not deaden normal sensation even when taken for a lengthy period. Prescribed medication usually may still be taken with DLPA without interference. Consult the Physician’s Desk Reference (“PDR”, found at any doctor’s office, pharmacy, or library) for information on any drug you may be taking or considering.

The most dramatic pain-relief case I have seen was when a friend of mine had a large number of old dental fillings replaced within a short period of time. As a result, he experienced ongoing and severe jaw pain that no pharmaceutical pain-killer could touch, and the dentist tried them all. In desperation, my friend tried DLPA, about 3,000 mg/day. He reported immediate improvement, and truly profound relief shortly thereafter.

VITAMIN C (Ascorbic Acid) ANALGESIA
At high intake levels, Vitamin C is known to reduce inflammation and act to as a natural antibiotic and antihistamine. These properties are surprising enough to many, but one of the biggest surprises ever occurred during the 1970’s in Scotland at the Vale of Leven Hospital. There, Ewan Cameron, M.D. was giving ten grams (10,000 milligrams) of vitamin C intravenously each day to terminally ill cancer patients. The study was about vitamin C and cancer, but the unexpected finding was in pain relief.

In Great Britain at the time, it was policy to provide terminal patients with any and all pain relief available, including addictive narcotics such as heroin. The argument was simply that if one were dying anyway, a drug’s analgesic value outweighs any drawbacks such as dependency. Dr. Cameron and Dr. Linus Pauling wrote in Cancer and Vitamin C (Warner Books, 1981):

Cameron and Baird reported (in 1973) that the first five ascorbate-treated patients who had been receiving large doses of morphine or heroin to control pain were taken off these drugs a few days after the treatment with vitamin C was begun, because the vitamin C seemed to diminish the pain to such an extent that the drug was not needed. Moreover, none of these patients asked that the morphine or heroin be given to them- they seemed not to experience any serious withdrawal signs or symptoms. (page xii)

Any vitamin that approaches the pain relieving power of morphine or heroin must be considered some kind of analgesic indeed. The fact that 13 out of 100 terminally ill cancer patients given vitamin C were still alive and apparently free of cancer after five years is some kind of miracle.

Although quite a lot of vitamin C is needed for results, it is a remarkably safe and rather simple therapy. Additional information will be found in Dr. Cameron’s “Protocol for the Use of Intravenous Vitamin C in the Treatment of Cancer,” (click here to read it) and in the many vitamin C articles posted at this website (click here to do an easy search for them.)

”” 1971 ””

“[Caterpillar Sting:]An adult male … complaining of severe chest pain and the inability to take a deep breath … had been “stung” or “bitten” 10 minutes earlie …. He begged for help saying he was dying … becoming cyanotic. Twelve grams of vitamin C … given intravenously as fast as the plunger could be pushed. Even before the injection was completed, he exclaimed, “Thank God.” The poison had been neutralized that rapidly. … the “culprit” [was] an object that looked like a mouse … 1½ inches long with long brown hair … a dark ridge down the entire back ,… seven pairs of propelling units and a tail much like a mouse … identified as the Puss Caterpillar … left 44 red raised marks on the back of its victim. Except for vitamin C this individual would have died from shock and asphyxiation.

… [two] boys … were caught in the “spray” of a dusting airplane … [one] was given 10 grams of ascorbic acid [by] syringe every 8 hours… He was returned home on the second hospital day. The [other] received supportive treatment but did not receive ascorbic acid. His body was something to see. The spray had produced an allergic dermatitis as well as a chemical burn. He died on the 5th hospital day.

“Three children … developed nasal diphtheria … [the] little girl under our care was given 10 grams ascorbic acid, intravenously [by] syringe every 8 hours for the first 24 hours and then every 12 hours for two times. She was then put on one gram ascorbic acid every two hours by mouth. She lived and is now a graduate nurse. The other children did not receive ascorbic acid and both died. Our young patient also received 40,000 units diphtheria antitoxin which was given intraperitoneal. The other children also were administered the antitoxin.

“…Two brothers were sick with poliomyelitis. These two boys were given 10 and 12 grams of ascorbic acid… every eight hours for 4 times and then every 12 hours for 4 times. They also were given one gram every two hours by mouth around the clock. They made complete recovery. … A third child, a neighbor, under the care of another physician received no ascorbic acid. This child also lived. The young lady is still wearing braces.

“Child of 4 years was struck on the lower leg by a large highland moccasin [snake]… Four grams of ascorbic acid was given intravenously …[after] 25 minutes … the child had stopped vomiting, she had stopped crying and was sitting on the emergency room table, laughing and drinking a glass of orange juice. She commented: “Come on, Daddy, I’m all right now, let’s go home.”… the following morning she still demonstrated the small amount of swelling of her leg and had ½ degree fever. She was given a second dose of 4 grams of ascorbic acid intravenously. … The following day, 38 hours after being bitten, she was completely normal…

“Comparing this to an earlier case of snake bite in a 16 year old girl, struck by a moccasin of about the same size… was hospitalized for three weeks. She was given 3 doses of anti-venom … This patient received no vitamin C other than that found in a regular hospital diet. Morphine was required to control pain.

“Acute Virus Pancarditis: A five year old boy … with … a “relapse” after … measles … showed a thready and feeble pulse … temperature was 105ºF. Ascorbic acid calculated at 400 mg per Kg body weight was given intravenously with a syringe. Within two hours the picture had almost reverted to normal. Injection of Vitamin C was repeated in 6 hours and again at 12 hours …[and a] fourth … after 24 hours although the patient was clinically well. The child returned home on the 4th hospital day.”

[AscorbateWeb Editorial: This is another extensive survey of ascorbate’s broad applicability in handling serious illnesses, with still more examples from Dr. Klenner’s extensive case history files. The note at the start of the article is amusing when one considers how the editor must have freaked out when reading of the “unusually high” dosages employed by Dr. Klenner.]

”” 1975 ””

“Dogs and cats were found to be poor ascorbate producers and suffer from chronic subclinical scurvy, especially when under stress. The full correction of this genetic condition gives dramatic therapeutic results in sick animals and consistent maintenance of full health and mental alertness when used as a prophylactic measure.

“A 2-year-old, 65 pound German Shepherd with a grade #3 hip dysplasia was bred and placed on 2 grams of sodium ascorbate daily. The pregnancy and whelping were very uneventful with eight normal pups whelped. The pups were placed on 50 to 100 milligrams ascorbate a day during early puppyhood. This regime was repeated through four litters. To date there is no dysplasia in the 30 pups…. These preliminary results may provide the basis for a possible simple procedure for preventing the very frustrating occurrence of canine hip dysplasia.”

[AscorbateWeb Editorial: Since lawyers, ethics committees and review boards seem to be less bothersome in veterinary medicine, one could expect great strides in the application of ascorbate to healing sick animals and keeping them healthy. Ironically, domesticated animals may end up healthier than their human masters.]

”” 1977 ””

“Chronic drug addiction produces in the victims severe subclinical scurvy, along with multivitamin and mineral dysfunction and protein deficiencies. …Methadone … only continues the severe biochemical stresses contributing to their illness.

“The treatment is entirely orthomolecular and inexpensive, is nontoxic, and uses no drugs or narcotics … sodium ascorbate is administered at 25 to 85 g per day or more, along with high doses of multivitamins, essential minerals, and protein hydrolysate. …Under this treatment, the heroin or methadone is stopped and no withdrawal symptoms are encountered. Should a “fix” be taken, it is immediately detoxified and no “high” is produced. It is like injecting plain water.

“… [a] male, age 24. Began using heroin at age 15 and now had a habit costing between $150 and $200 a day. … He was such a skeptic of the value of our orthomolecular program that… he first took 45 g of sodium ascorbate and then in the space of five hours he “shot-up” $300-$400 worth of heroin, and he felt no effect from this large amount of heroin. He continued on the ascorbate, 45 g per day for 10 days, along with the vitamins, minerals, and protein supplement. Then the dosage was reduced to 10 g sodium ascorbate and continued for another 30 days. The patient has moved out of the area, but when last seen, he was drug-free and had an extreme sense of well-being and a good attitude.

“We speculate on ascorbate’s action as due to the high levels of sodium ascorbate in the brain as competing for and displacing the narcotic from the opiate receptor sites. …it might be possible to use this phenomenon postoperatively on surgical patients to quickly bring them out of anesthesia.”

[AscorbateWeb Editorial: Incredibly, at the start of the 21st century, methadone is still the preferred “treatment” for heroin addicts. The researchers of this study speculate about the genetic and biomolecular bases for Man’s susceptibility to opiate drugs. As for ascorbate’s observed property of nullifying the effects of opiates, there has been no evidence of follow-through on characterizing this in clinical or emergency practice.]

”” 1978 ””

“… by 1974 the value of ascorbic acid had become so clear that the decision was made, for ethical reasons, to give vitamin C in large amounts to essentially every patient.

“Over the whole period 1967 to 1976 there were 12 cases of hepatitis among the 170 transfused patients who received little or no vitamin C (incidence 7%) and three cases, all non-B, among the 1,367 who received 2 g per day or more (incidence 0.2%).

“The results presented here support our earlier conclusion that vitamin C given in large amounts has a significant prophylactic effect against post-transfusion hepatitis, especially type B.”

[AscorbateWeb Editorial: One wonders what ethics today’s doctors (outside of Japan, that is) subscribe to in handling their patients receiving transfusions. Could any of those 1980’s cases of transfusion-borne HIV ”” and today’s hepatitis-C ”” have been prevented by a few cents’ worth of ascorbate?]

””

“The recommended dietary allowance of 45 milligrams of ascorbate a day for human adults, now proposed and used by nutritionists, is grossly inadequate to restore Homo sapiens to a normal mammalian ascorbate physiology. To correct fully this human genetic defect and banish epidemic chronic subclinical scurvy requires daily intakes of ascorbate equivalent to, at least, the amounts synthesized by the other mammals.

“Humans kept on a long term regime of full correction of this birth defect show great salutary benefits in health maintenance, disease therapy and slowing of the aging process. This can be regarded as the creation of a new and more robust, longer-living, tough human sub-species, Homo sapiens ascorbicus…”

[AscorbateWeb Editorial: Dr. Stone was probably the first to identify the human/primate genetic mutation as the root cause of most of mankind’s great suffering and susceptibility to debilitating diseases. The US RDA of 60 mg. ascorbate daily (as of 2003) is still tragically, laughably inadequate for attaining or maintaining full health.]

This web site is neither for advertising nor dispensing of medical advice. Clients who consult with Dr. Weeks receive information in an educational context in an effort to learn about optimizing care with their local health care practitioners. Dr. Weeks formerly practiced on Whidbey Island off the coast of Washington.